Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy and U.S. Department of Education
November 2002
The Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy is a worthy group of prominent social scientists and other thinkers (including our own Diane Ravitch) that undertook this report in collaboration with the federal Education Department. It argues that future education interventions should be based on high-quality scientific research, which it equates with randomized field trials. This would not even be newsworthy in many fields, but in education it amounts to a revolution. The report urges the Department (which is a bit like the Department urging itself) to devote its discretionary dollars to such research, not only within explicit research programs but also in "discretionary" programs and those where money is set aside for "national" activities. It cites several examples (reading, pre-school, substance abuse) where randomized trials have produced significant findings about particular interventions. (It does not, however, mention the voucher programs that have been subject to similar research.) Perhaps just as important for the education research world, the report is highly critical of the "pre-post" and "comparison group" (or "quasi-experimental") studies that are widespread but often yield biased results. You can download a copy of this provocative document at http://www.excelgov.org/usermedia/images/uploads/PDFs/coalitionFinRpt.pdf.